Abstract
The time distributions of references given by five leading journals in each of seven life science disciplines revealed that the decrease in the frequency of references is faster in the early years (5–10 years) than later. The rate of decrease is in good correlation with the 3 and 4 year-old references per article values, with the discipline impact factor sums and with the ratio of the 3-year-old references to the 4-year-old ones. The results are discussed as evidence supportingPrice's immediacy factor, i.e. the fall of citations in time does not mean obsolescence.
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Marton, J. Obsolescence or immediacy? Evidence supporting Price's hypothesis. Scientometrics 7, 145–153 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02017142
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02017142